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Jordy Smith

Jordy grew up in a small town in Durban. His father is a shaper, and he’s spent the majority of his life breathing foam dust and learning all he could about surf and board design. “My upbringing was good,” he says. “I didn’t grow up in the wealthiest neighborhood and it led me to believe that, if you want anything, you have to fight for it. As a kid, I played soccer but loved surfing; it was everything.”

We spoke to Jordy before he went to Lowers back on the 2017 WCT tour and wanted to find out how he became the world number one and what kind of regiment, and life experiences it takes to be one of the world’s best surfers in 2017.

Growing up, when did the prospect of surfing for a living become reality? Jordy: I didn’t think too heavily about it as a kid. It wasn’t like today where these 8-year-old's parents are grooming them into professional surfers. I just wanted to spend as much time at the beach, surf and have fun. I loved competing at the time but didn’t really think it’d take me anywhere. Then, around 15 or 16, becoming a professional surfer became attainable. I won the ISA contest in Durban and I thought, ‘this is crazy I just competed against some of the best guys my age and won.’ After that, I got the chance to travel and showcase my surfing outside of South Africa.

Was that around the time you decided to move to California? Well, my dad always told me that if I wanted to have a career in surfing, I’d have to do it overseas. In South Africa, it doesn’t work to be a big fish in a small pond. All we had was Zig Zag magazine, which was cool, but it wasn’t on the scale of say, Surfer magazine. Before I moved to California, my contract with my sponsor ended. I was basically living paycheck to paycheck on my contest winnings. Luckily, at the time, I’d won a few big QS’s in a row; that’s when I was able to sign with O’Neill – which was a dream come true, they’re the original surf brand and I’ve stuck with them ever since.

Why is hard to get noticed outside of South Africa? You guys have some of the best waves in the world. It’s just too far from the rest of the world, especially the surfing world. Our dollars are mostly generated from the US, Oz and even Brazil. To be in the public eye is important and here it’s much harder to get noticed. The opportunity to move to America was massive. After I started riding for O’Neill. They gave me the travel budget and chance to take my surfing to the next level. That’s when I moved to Newport. All my sponsors were in the area, it just worked out. I’ve kept my main base in Orange County ever since.

When was the last time you were in a position where a winning a World Title was achievable? It was the 2010/2011 season going into Tahiti. I got injured and the next event was New York; it put me out for New York and Lowers. I finished second behind Kelly [Slater] that year.

Are you approaching anything differently this year? I’ve made a mental shift. More than anything I’ve stopped wearing the bad results and overcompensating - just living each day for what it is and not thinking too far ahead or behind. But, mostly, it's believing in myself. Also, I've been taking care of my body. In the past, the injuries have always come at a bad time. Right now, I'm at the best fighting weight I've been. When your body feels good, so does your mind.

What’s your day to day program? Just taking it easy. I wake up around 630 am. Get some coffee, have brekkie, then take a walk down to Lowers and surf for two hours. I come home, watch the footage from the morning and get lunch. Then sometimes I’ll take a drive down to The Channel Islands shop in Oceanside to work on some boards, and get them dialed in for the next event. The last two weeks, it’s been a lot of that. I just picked up my wife from the airport yesterday, so I’m going to spend a bit of time with her now that she’s back home.

Now that you have the Yellow Jersey, is there more pressure heading into Lowers - an event that you’re notoriously a favorite to win?
Obviously, there’s some pressure. But, I’m going to take the rest of the year exactly how I take every event. Just because I’ve done well in the past at Lowers, doesn’t mean I’m going to do well this year. Same way as I’ve never really done well at Teahupoo and this year I finished in the semis. In surfing you just never know.

Who are your biggest threats? I’m not trying to think too much about what everyone else is doing. I’ve found if I just focus on myself, I’ll get the best results and cancel out the noise. But if there’s anyone that I think really wants it this year, it’s John [Florence] and Owen [Wright]. Both John and Owen surf so well in the four remaining locations; they're weapons.

What's it take to be a top 5 surfer on the CT this year? The level of dedication and athleticism has changed. Are you guilty of that dirty word, "training"? Surfing is getting to its peak. The days of guys hanging out all day then paddling out and expecting to win are over. But, the word training I think has taken on a different form now. It used to mean just going to the gym. I don't think that's it. It can be anything from eating right to dialing in your equipment, to mental and physical stuff. It's all the crumbs that make the loaf of bread.

Jordy Smith is no stranger to the stress and pressure of competitions. Traveling the globe relentlessly and competing with the best surfers in the world is how he makes his living. What are Jordy's thoughts on the future of competitive surfing? What will it take to be a contender in the years to come?

Currently sitting in the top 10 of the World Surf League, Jordy continues to push the boundaries of the sport with his athletic approach to surfing. From creative aerials to slashing, powerful turns, Jordy remains one of the best competition and free surfers in the world.

As part of O’Neill’s recently dropped HYPERFREAK campaign, we catch-up with Jordy on the runway of Margaret River, Western Australia to get his vision on what’s next within this dynamic and constantly evolving sport.